REECE Walsh’s coach and a team-mate defended him over ‘Toiletgate’ after he posted a 22-point haul in the round 27 triumph over Melbourne – while the superstar spoke about the incident himself.
The fullback found himself in hot water in the build-up to the Suncorp Stadium game for posting footage of himself drinking from a toilet bowl and saying “they reckon there’s a new form of recovery to recover the muscles, toilet water … give it a little drink”.
The 23-year-old himself addressed the controversy on Channel Nine late on Thursday night, saying: “We installed the toilet, alright?
“So all those people out there saying that all these people use it, we put it in, alright?
“I don’t want young ones doing that sort of stuff but geez, it got blown out a little bit, don’t you reckon?”
Speaking on the field at fulltime in the 30-14 win, halfback Ben Hunt told ABC: ““You guys in the media made it a chequered week.
“You know, it didn’t worry him at all. He’s just a young fella enjoying life, having fun.”
And coach Michael Maguire made light of the affair at the media conference, saying: “He did OK. I don’t think he’ll have to worry about toilets.
“Look, he’s a character and obviously creates a lot of noise but at the end of the day he’s in here training, he’s doing all the work with the players and he wants to win.
“He got challenged earlier in the year too about how he was playing and what he was doing.
“He wears a bit along the way but to see him working with the players the way they are at the moment, it’s good to see.”